Happy New Year with Maki and Katie in Bangkok!

Hisashiburi mak mak maaaaaaaaak.....this is my first post in a looooong time and I have to say it is due to a mixture of being busy with various things, and being just a little bit slack with the blog. BUT, seeing as I am having a Friday night in, I have decided to sit down and catch up a little. So, let's start where we left off.....Maki and Katie came for their sotsugyou ryokou to Bangkok for about a week, so I had my eating partner back (Maki and I have been known to eat the food supply of Japan and Vietnam) and between the three of us we ate our way around Bangkok! So, we hada good time being all touristy, and went to Wat Po where Maki got in for free by virtue of looking incredibly Thai.....so unfair! Also climbed to as far up as you can go at Wat Arun....brave brave creatures we are!!!

We also did JJ Market on the weekend where we found the MOST amazing cha nom ever...the guy could pour 3 jugs together all whilst spinning around and not watching, AND posing for photos.....incredible! And, all this posing and spinning really does make the tea taste better....this was the best cha nom I've had since arriving. Cha nom is like teh tarik, or a kind of indian spiced tea which comes out really orange here in Thailand compared to other places....highly recommended

We also attacked the food in China town like no other. First we had to take the train to Lumphini to buy tickets to the Thasi boxing....here is the MRT subwayticket.....a black disk yay big.....how many tiems have I almost lost this stupid thing.....

So the food we ate at China town included the world's best....well maybe not best but really realyl good at least shu mai, some random pork marinated with garlic and pepper then grilled which loooked really cool on this kind of jey chain thing....here's Maki the fatty eating it all!!!

So the boxing was at Lumphini Stadium, which is perhaps the most famous place to see Muay Thai in Bangkok. We went really quickly coz we had to cram a trip to the Central World winter beer gardens in before they closed, cos the 1st was the last day to go before they closed. So we bought tickets in the 3rd lcass area, which turned out to be quite close to the ring anyway. And the matches were all really good, although I had absolutely no idea what made a good fighter and who was winning....ever! One guy got knocked out cold....much to the crowds delight....poor guy! When they had a break between rounds the brought out what looked like these big oven cake baking trays and the boxers sat in these while their trainers squirted water all over them and shouted advice....haha I couldnt help but picture them as a turkey being prepared for raosting coz that's what it looked like!!....ahhhh how I amuse myself sometimes!!

We then cabbed it to Central World where we met James and went to the Chang Beer garden as this was the only place serving beer towers still, and Maki, Katie and I had never tried one so wanted to see what this things called a beer tower was! Wow, it was this huuuge tower of beer litterally! And in the middle they have a tube where they put the ice to keep the beer cold!! We also ordered some delicious bar snacks and listened to the (not too bad) live band play! Nice way to spend the 1st night of 2o1o!

Oh that reminds me....I haven;t told you about new years eve!! So, we went to Central World plaza and much to our horror, all the beer gardens in which we had intended to spend the night listening to the bands and having dinner were charging 200 a table just to enter!! Absolutely no thank you! So, we went to loft food court and got a table next to the window and had dinner there which was really nice! Here is my last meal for 2009....tamarind soup with prawns, a kiwi and apple fruit smoothie and rice.....very aroy!!!

After dessert...cake courtesy of me being caught by the buy one get a 2nd pice half price deal.....we had a look in Zen Central where Maki found her long lost twin......

And di you know....Zen has it's own dj booth....extravagent or not.....????

We then went outside for the countdown....here is the Singha garden...then only one not charging and thus the only one full....so we couldn't get in.....:(

The countdown was quite cool....I got to practice counting backwards in Thai....from 40 too, as they felt the need to commence the count at 40 as opposed to the traditional 10....HAPPYNEW YEAR....SAWATDII PHII MAY KHRAAAAAAAAP:D

And here's the 4 faced Buddha at Erawan....random picture I took as we walked past....

A highlight of Maki and Katie's trip was out visit to Longtable, which is meant to be the longest dining room table in the world!! How very cool! So, we had to go try this place out coz it was meant to have great cocktails and views, and also good food as well. So we booked to ensure ourselves a seat at the longest dining table in the world and rocked up to begin enjoying a cocktail on the balcony before the restaurant opened. The cocktails were really interesting and tasted great. I had one made from pomelo which I had never tried before...really nice! This place is MUCH MUCH MUCH better than Sirocco....but no waiter here will ever speak to you in Thai no matter how well you can speak just the same as Sirocco...in fact, they wouldnt even speak Thai to the Thai contingent in our group!

The dining room is so cool! It is just one loooong table, and everyone sits at it with small gaps to seperate you and other diners. We had a seat close to the end where there is just a huge window to look out over Bangkok.....suay mak mak! Here it is from both ends

Special mention has to go to the inventive bathrooms in the place....I know this is strange, but seriously, the sink hasa secret button to turn the water on which I could never find despite 2 trips to the bathroom, but this is ok! Because there is someone who has a specific job of walking over to push the secret button for you and then standing ready with a towel for you to dry your hands when you're done.....wow chay may??!!!

So, the important thing....dinner....it is all Thai food, and not really that much fusion in it, but a little bit. We ordered toooo much....first lesson, this is a nice restaurant which serves big plates, but actually puts decent amounts of food on these plates.....you don't need to order a pizza on the way home! We had fried tofu....incredibly good, vegetables, a duck curry, and a pork curry all with rice.

Following this we went to Le Notre for dessert and again it was amazing....I had apricot tart this time...it wasnt suga flavoured and I could actually taste apricot....it really is a great shop and I think I will eventually eat the entire menu here!!

On Maki and Katie's last night we met Sine and Nuchi and went to MK for suki. Here is all out food pild high....Maki eats a lot you see....this was her food alone....haha....no just joking! We had such a good time....AND, Sine managed to convince them to do the MK dance especially for us because they had finished for the night....WOOOT! So I finally get to see the MK dance and it is really cool!!

Finally, here is some funny english I saw....the chocolate chip cookie is "American enricked, and the fresh cream roll comes with a fresh dream filling.....mmmmm how exotic!